NYCOM vs. Western U (COMP)

10+ Year Member

I've been applying to medical school for four years. I finally finished my Master's degree, scored a 31 on the MCAT and... well I've been accepted to a couple of schools.
I'm having a really hard time selecting one. I would love to eventually end up practicing surgery if that helps. Is there more prestige or are there more opportunities at one of these schools. All input (that may help me decide) is welcome . Thanks

10+ Year Member

I was accepted to both NYCOM and COMP. Even though I am a NY resident, I chose COMP. Eventually I plan on returning to the East coast to practice, but I still have some wander lust issues to attend to and frankly I have grown weary of the New York attitude.

First of all, these are some reasons to consider NYCOM: for rotations, affiliated hospitals are all set up for you in NYC and the upstate area. If you look at the materials they provide, it appears that many more of their students go into a speciality of some sort (when compared to COMP). New York is a great place with many opportunities.

Here are the reasons I choose COMP. A friendly group of people, the school seems to be better organized and more focused on teaching than NYCOM. State of the art facilities (even though the campus looks like a strip mall). Since I don't necessarily plan on staying in California, the flexibility to pick 75% of your rotation sites is a bonus. When I interviewed there I was impressed by the students and was given an honest view of the school by the tour guide and host student.
Basically the medical education you recieve will be the one you give yourself. Forget about imaginary reputations, reputation means little when coming out of a DO school. Your COMLEX scores and grades will be more important.
I should also tell you that NYCOM did not impress me on my interview day. I spoke with three students who thought the administration did little to help them. One student went so far as to say "I am frightend of the possibility that one day my classmates will be doctors". When my interviewer and I discussed the faculty, that person went so far as to say that there wasn't enough faculty, that the school was doing little to replace the faculty that was leaving and that the leaving faculty members were moving on to better things. When it turned out that my interviewer was going to be teaching several M1 classes, I seriously had to consider whether or not I would want that person as my professor.
Worried that I might have had a disgruntled interviewer, I contacted some students I knew through undergrad. They verified that the really good professors had left in the last couple of years. HOWEVER, they were happy there. They said that they would definately pick NYCOM over another school (although none of them had actually been accepted to another school!).
To go on, my student tour-guide was a miserable wreck. That person kept saying "we do it because we have to". It was like the students were going through all of this for the wrong reasons. With so many good medical schools in New York, is it possible that NYCOM is full of angry MD hopefuls? I just didn't get an inviting feeling from the school and for me, it is important to be at a school where the students are happy and motivated.
The BIG MINUS, at COMP, all students are required to attend three EFM weekends (essential family medicine) during the third and fourth year. This will be an inconvience for me since I plan on going East during my fourth year.
So, I hope this was helpful but don't take my word as supreme for any of this. These were my experiences which could be a poor representation of NYCOM, maybe I interviewed on bad day, who knows. Since you seem set on surgery, maybe NCYOM is better suited for your needs.
I hope I have not offended any NYCOM students, faculty or hopefuls. If anyone feels that my impressions are wrong, please feel free to inform the original poster.
Good luck in your decision, by the way, did you put a deposit down for each school? $2500, Ouch!

10+ Year Member

It sounds like you had a bad experience, but as a NYCOM student I have to say I am surprised. Anywhere you go you will have people that like it or don't. And there will be things at any school that you like or don't. NYCOM is a good school. Among other things, you will receive the best Med. Pharm education anywhere (MD/DO).

Yes, I have classmates who I wouldn't want to be my physician one day. Is there any school about which you couldn't say the same? However, there are many whom I would be privileged to have as my family's doctor one day.

10+ Year Member

Just based on comments that have been written on this and other boards, NYCOM apparently has the best pharm department. Their students, according to those same posts, score the highest on COMLEX Pharm questions.

Still must be rolling in his grave.

Tim of New York City.

Turtle Board, M.D.
New York

"Stereotypes abound about personality traits thought to be characteristic of a surgeon. Consensus is that one should be male, athletic, anal-compulsive, addicted to locker-room humor, possessed of a vocabulary of single syllables, have the endurance of a marathon runner, and maintain a political, social, and sexual orientation somewhere to the right of Attila the Hun."
-- from "So, You Want to Be a Surgeon." The American College of Surgeons.

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